Walk a Thousand Miles
A story about Burn's three daughters from Broken. Prologue The Sandwing princess's talons carried her fast across the desert, towards the Scorpion Den. Three tiny bundles of dangled from her jaws, each with shining sandy-gold scales. The princess's dark veil covered her as she continued her journey. The Scorpion Den appeared over a sand dune, a massive city of tents and small stone buildings surrounded and kept in order by a massive, snaking wall along the perimeter of the structure. Burn stopped for a moment, looking down at the city. Her black eyes studied the guards at the entrance. She snorted a puff of flames as she slid to one side of the sand dune and made her way down. She sneaked to one side of the entrance gates, just far enough so the guard post couldn't see or hear her, and cleared the wall in one powerful leap. Her talons landed softly on the sandstone path, her eyes searching for the distinctive blue tent with a Nightwing painted on the side her aunt, Princess Leopard called home. She at last saw it in the corner of her eye and darted towards it. She walked into the tent, the three dragonets still hanging sleepily from her teeth. "Aunt Leopard?" she whispered. "Are you here?" The golden Sandwing princess emerged from behind a bookshelf, yawning as her distinct leopard spotted markings caught the sliver of moonlight from the open tent flap. "Burn, you came." She set the three tiny Sandwings at Leopard's feet. "Yes, as you know, I need you to take care of my daughters. They'll be safe here." she said, nuzzling her daughters goodbye. "Take good care of them, Leopard. Goodbye, my little angels. It's for the best..." She had to ignore the squeaking calls of her dragonets as she made her way out of the tent, pulling the black hood of her veil back over her head and making her way back toward the palace. As she jumped onto the wall, she looked back at the sleeping city. "Please be safe." she whispered. "I promise we'll meet again one day." And with the flutter of wings, the princess was gone. Chapter One Scorch, Singe, and Sear stood, looking up at the white marble obelisk memorial. Several hieroglyphs were engraved in it, and the engravings were filled with gold, glittering in the desert sunlight. Underneath the obelisk, Princess Leopard was buried. The old princess had passed peacefully in her sleep a few days earlier, exactly a week after the brightest night. Scorch sighed as she looked at the hieroglyphs, reading: Princess Leopard of the Sandwings: ducem et matre et nutritoribus Messiam. Singe watched as a small black scorpion walked along the neatly swept sand surrounding the obelisk. She swiftly snatched it up with two claws and ate it. Sear's ears twitched. She puffed a ring of smoke into the air as she turned to look at her sisters. "Well, no sense in feeling sorry for ourselves. There was nothing we could have done." Singe nodded, walking over to her sister. "Come on, Scorch." she called. Scorch stared at the obelisk for a moment longer. She then followed after her sisters without a word. Cheers could be heard coming from just the next street over. Singe and Sear gasped. "They must be having races." Singe said, looking at Sear, her red-tinged frill quivering in the light breeze. Sear hopped around a bit excitedly. "Let's go watch. Come on, Scorch!" She called over her shoulder as she and Singe began to run. Scorch's eyes widened. "Hey wait!" she yelled after them as they disappeared into an alleyway. She ran at them, quickly picking up speed. Singe and Sear reached a rickety wooden fence, jumping up onto it and gazing out through the crowd of dragons lined up along a narrow stretch of sand, cheering. Three male dragons were just arriving, one Sandwing and two Icewings. "Good morning, Jua!" the smaller Icewing said cheerfully. "Outta be a close race! Maybe even'' neck'' and'' neck''." he said, puffing out his chest and gazing down at the golden pendent collar he had on. The larger Icewing, a tall, lanky, silver dragon, leaned over to Jua. "Say something about his new collar before he gets whiplash." he said sarcastically. Jua looked down at the small Icewing, his orange bandanna billowing slightly in the breeze. "Uh, Tiu. What a handsome collar. Is it new?" "What? This old thing? No." He then became flustered, his face turning a mild shade of pink. "Do you think... Steel will notice?" The larger Icewing and Jua looked at each other. "I'm afraid the only way Steel notices anyone is if they're wearing a mirror." Jua said as the three took their place in the crowd. The crowd of dragons cheered even louder as the silhouettes of dragons could be seen rounding a corner and speeding toward the finish line marked by a white ribbon. The wind suddenly picked up, blowing a young dragonet's hat off and onto the track. "Oh no!" he cried, attempting to walk onto the track to get it. Hua grabbed his wing and pulled him back, seeing as the racing dragons were coming closer. Scorch gasped, seeing the situation unfold as well. In a split second, she flung herself from the fence and onto the track, running towards the hat resting gently in the middle of the track. "Scorch, are you crazy?" Singe called, hanging off of the fence. A large tan dragon came up next to her, her black eyes glaring at her angrily. "What are you doing on the track, half-breed? You don't belong here!" she snarled. Scorch ignored her, putting on a burst of speed. The tan dragon caught up with her, snapping her teeth at Scorch's talons. Scorch, with one powerful flap of her wings, flung herself over her pursuer and in front of her on the track. She reached forward, snagging the hat and, before she knew it, ripping through the white ribbon marking the finish line. The crowd lined along the track burst into cheers. Scorch ducked through the crowd, her eyes falling on Jua and the young dragonet. The dragonet trotted over to Scorch, a massive smile on his face. Scorch dropped the hat back onto the dragonet's head. "Thank you, miss." he said, his disproportionately large smile still on his face. Two dragons fought their way through the crowd to get to the dragonet. When their eyes fell on Scorch, their kind faces turned to expressions of anger and fear. "Son, stay away from that dragon!" The father said, yanking the dragonet back to his side. "But, dad-" "No 'buts'. She's dangerous. I don't want you around her again." he said as he and the dragonet walked back through the crowd. Scorch folded her ears back, looking at the track as Singe and Sear ran towards her. "That was insanely dangerous, Scorch!" Singe chided, half out of breath. "You could have gotten yourself killed!" "Oh relax, Singe." Scorch panted. "Steel doesn't have it in her to kill." "''I ''thought what you did out there was very brave." Jua said as he walked up to the three sisters. Scorch turned to face him, their eyes meeting. "O-Oh. Uh, thanks." "Jua!" Tiu called. He jumped back with a gasp when he saw Scorch. "Princess Burn! Jua, get back!" Jua looked back at him. "Calm down, Tiu." He looked at Scorch, their snouts brushing. "I have to go. See you around town, Scorch." he said as he disappeared into an alley with Tiu. WIP Category:Content (Queen Seaglass of the Seawings) Category:Fanfictions Category:Fanfictions (Semi-Canon) Category:Fanfictions (Incomplete)